Recent advancements in modem and computer technology allow large amounts of digital data to be transmitted electronically. A number of information providers (such as newspaper and magazine publishers) and on-line information distributors have formed partnerships to deliver newspaper and other information on-line. In this system, a subscriber uses a computer and a modem to connect, through a regular phone line, to the computer of an on-line information provider. The subscriber can retrieve information, including newspaper articles, stored in the computer of the information provider.
On-line delivery of newspaper has many advantages. For example, the information can be updated throughout the day while the printed version is printed only once or twice a day. Further, it is possible to do text-based searches on the information. However, it is found that on-line delivery of newspaper and other information is slow. For example, a subscriber has to wait many seconds for a newspaper article to be delivered. The quality of the electronic newspaper is low. For example, in order to reduce storage and communication requirements, graphic images appearing in the printed version are not universally supplied in the on-line version of newspaper. One of the reasons for such poor performance is the limited bandwidth of communication channels used by on-line information distributors. Another reason is that information is centrally processed by the computer at the site of the information distributor, with the result that each subscriber only gets a small slice of the time of the computer.